And lose tax exempt status.
We’ll see who is willing to do that.
No. The church can preside over the religious ceremony of "holy matrimony'.
If someone wants to get "married" and have it recognized by the State, you just go to the county clerk and register the wedding yourself.
As long as the pastor is not acting as an agent of the state, the ceremony is strictly religious and the religion can set its own standards.
Holy Matrimony is a strictly religious rite. Let the Supreme Court try to force the states to recognize gay "holy matrimony".
That would violate their perverted view of the separation of church and state.
The Supreme Court has redefined the word "married" to be a civilly recognized contract between two or more people.
Holy Matrimony is the religious rite of joining a man and a woman together before God.
In fact, it is this "discrimination" that defines them as religious organizations.
If you have any doubts about this, just go to your local Catholic priest and ask him to officiate over a bar mitzvah for your son.
“And lose tax exempt status. We’ll see who is willing to do that.”
In the short term, I don’t see it happening. In order to solemnize “marriage” licenses the church or pastor has to actually ask permission from caesar to do so. So not only are churches the unpaid agent of caesar, they have to ask for the “privilege.” There is an easy way to avoid doing that: don’t ask permission, or return the permission if already granted. There may be a few unwise churches who get caught out, but once that starts, you’ll see churches simply refuse to solemnize “marriage” licenses at all.
Long term of course the objective is to have all churches answer to caesar regarding doctrine, etc. Those who do not will be persecuted. There are plenty of churches flying the rainbow flag already. I don’t see the overt persecution happening for awhile.